We’ve all seen the news regarding the Binghamton University men’s basketball team. We know that we lost a significant portion of the team that gave the Bearcats their first NCAA tournament berth. We know that Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben was arrested on drug charges in his hometown of Troy. We know that Joel Thirer recently stepped down from his position as athletic director. But listen, guys: that’s pretty much all we know.

We can all have our theories about what happened, or what caused the dismissal of D.J. Rivera, Malik Alvin, David Fine, Paul Crosby and Corey Chandler. But the smoking gun that sparked the decision is still a mystery. Everyone involved in the program is still forbidden from talking about what exactly caused this issue.

Fine told Pipe Dream that he wasn’t able to comment on the specific reason for dismissal. “It’s not really over yet,” he said. “I don’t really want to go saying something that might get me in more trouble. I definitely will, but [not] until we find out what happens and everything’s finished.” When asked what his plans are for the immediate future, he responded, “Stay here and get my degree,” and later added, “That degree’s more important than anything; college basketball, that’s a privilege.”

We all know that this is a messy situation. But the simple fact is that we do not know exactly what happened, and we therefore cannot judge the situation. Fine and the other players (including Mayben, according to Fine) are staying in school and getting a valuable education, which is supposed to be the foremost goal of every student-athlete at Binghamton. That’s exactly what they should be doing right now, and I applaud them for it.

That being said, there has to come a time when the information becomes known. How could this possibly stay under wraps forever? After the successes of last year, this fiasco really deserves an explanation, not only for fans and the general public, but for the students as well.

We put our heart and soul into Bearcats basketball last year. We remember storming the court on national television after winning the America East championship in our home gym. We remember watching our team take on perennial powerhouse Duke University in the NCAA tournament. And now, we remember the hopes we had for this season. While we will still have a team that will play its heart out all season long, our aspirations for success will never be the same because most of the players that contributed to last year’s run are gone.

The student body deserves to know what happened. But until it is revealed, we really need to stop speculating about it. The rumors aren’t helping and the theories cannot have any factual merit. Sure, there’s still something big to talk about here, but there is nothing yet to argue about. Let’s let the situation settle down and try to make sense of this when we have the whole story … but we’d better get the facts eventually.